From Noma's Grill to Mine: Adapting a Dish from the World's Best Restaurant

It will astonish no one for me to declare that a meal at Noma—the Copenhagen restaurant that recently reclaimed its ranking as the best restaurant in the world—is a sublime experience. Over 20-something courses, the battalion of international chefs employed by René Redzepi craft astounding dishes that redefine what food can be. From fried moss dusted with porcini powder to beef tartare sprinkled with brightly tart ants, every single plate is meticulously conceived and frankly revolutionary.

All this I knew going in one recent sunny day, after having wrangled a lunch reservation for two. My mind was prepared to be blown. What it wasn't prepared for, however, was to eat a dish that I might be able easily to replicate at home and, even better, present at one of the barbecues I host roughly every couple of weeks all summer long.

The dish was, as many at Noma are, deceptively simple: two leeks, each about six or seven inches long, that had been grilled for 45 minutes over hardwood lump charcoal, until the outer layers were burnt, the inner layers meltingly sweet. This itself was reminiscent of one of my cookout standbys—big bundles of scallions, drizzled with olive oil and grilled until soft.

But the Noma touch here was to slit open the leeks and drizzle in a sauce made of cod roe and blueberries. The effect was incredible—the richness of the leeks, the deep-sea salinity of the roe, the fresh sugar of the berries. I could eat that stuff all day. I would've asked for seconds if there hadn't been 10 more courses on the way.

Instead, I'll be coming up with other, more barbecue-friendly additions. This lemon-anchovy vinaigrettelooks like an excellent candidate, and a Thai-ish coconut green curry sauce would be gorgeous. Since leeks themselves are such simple carriers of flavor, you can go in pretty much any direction you like here. And the best part, of course, is that when your guests say they love the leeks, you can tell them, as I will in my most pretentious voice, that you learned it at Noma.